Up And At 'Em...Only six more weeks of winter - or so the groundhog says.
February has shocked us back to reality but there is hope that
there will be a slight warm-up later
in the week. It's not the 60's but on a cold day like today when
the wind chill is 26˚,
the high 40's sounds like a heat wave.
As long as there's an opportunity for
me to get outside every now and then there are no complaints
here.

If you
need something to do this weekend visit the Metropolitan Lawn &
Garden Show downtown at the American Royal. Now is the perfect
time to plan ahead, take notes, and
visit with industry experts. There is always something new -
tools, plants or things in general that make our lives as
gardeners easier.

Are you an
early morning person? If so tune in Sunday morning to 980 KMBZ
and listen to me and Jan Olson on the Gardn' Wise Guys gardening
show from 7-9 AM. Lots of banter and good, sound gardening
advice.

~
Shelly

Seed
Starting With Structure...Starting more
than three or four different varieties of seed indoors can get
confusing if you're not organized. To keep from missing the
start date for any of your seeds you might try our simple
procedure: Organize your seed packets in piles based on the
number of weeks before "last frost" to start them indoors. This
should be indicated on the seed packet and can be found in our
feature When To Start Seeds Indoors. Pick the date which you
feel safe calling "last frost". We use the first full weekend in
May. In our example we are now 11 weeks from the weekend we will
transplant our seedlings. That means that by this weekend we
will have already started any seeds that indicate starting dates
nine weeks and higher. For the remainder of your seeds secure
them together in their respective groups with a rubber band. For
each group attach a sticky note with the date of the weekend
they need to be started. Place the packets front-to-back, in
order by starting date, in a small box. Each weekend remove the
packets at the front of the box for starting. Next weekend's
seeds are now at the front and awaiting your return in seven
days.

Proper Rose Pruning...
Lots of gardeners are wondering if they missed their chance to
prune their roses. Fear not. Modern roses should be pruned
just before the buds break dormancy after the last frost. Still
plenty of time to think about it.

Rose pruning
is the key to successful summer blooms. Prune roses back 25
percent if you want lots of medium-sized blooms. Prune back 50
percent if you want fewer, larger flowers.

Trim Now, Butterflies
Later...Our butterfly bush rewards me and my family to great
gatherings of butterflies every summer. To make sure it's in
top shape I usually trim it back to about 12 inches this time of
year. This helps promote a well shaped bush with larger
flowers.

Tipping The Scales...We've had lots of e-mails asking about
effective control of scale on houseplants. Because scale
in indoor environments enjoys overlapping generations successful
treatment will require two to three insecticide applications at
l0-day intervals. When feasible,
large numbers of these scales can be physically dislodged by
gently wiping the leaves with a dilute mixture of water and
dishwashing detergent. You should combine manual and chemical
control for best results.

Celtuce In The Garden...Looking for something new in the vegetable
garden this year? Consider ordering celtuce seed to grow as a
substitute for celery. Celtuce is a versatile crop that needs
less water than celery and can be direct seeded along with
summer crops. It is named after its unique combination of
characteristics, the celery-like
stalks and the lettuce-like
leaves (celtuce
- get it?). In China, where it originates, the plant is grown
mainly for the fat central stalk that is very crispy and tender.
Young leaves can be used as lettuce for salads and stir-fry.

Winter Tree
Clean-Up...Late winter is a great time to prune many
deciduous trees. Look over your plants now and remove dead,
dying, unsightly parts of the tree, sprouts growing at or near
the base of the tree trunk, crossed branches, and V-shaped
crotches.

Finally..."The more help a man
has in his garden, the less it belongs to him."